City SC Posse - Ep20: CITY is Rolling, the Signings Are Here, and Galaxy Is Next

Bright: All right, brand new episode of City S C Posse. I think this is our twentieth episode, give or take, doing game recaps and previews, so a little bit of a celebration here. This is our first year doing this podcast. of course NFN Peapod Productions. You know, we're some something like sixty episodes in or something, to NFN Peapod. Started last year, then spun off this show. So, going strong. I know we had the World Cup break, but back at it now.

Kev: boy.

Bright: and we'll start with the elephant in the room. If you're new here, if you caught our bonus episode about my Rexum experience, thank you so much. Thank you for listening, thank you for joining, thank you for supporting that episode. I I wanna say, certainly in my mind, Not necessarily by national levels, but we went viral, right? To an extent. you know, where on average we're probably getting seventy listeners an episode or something like that. And we we're upwards of over two thousand total streams on our Rexum bonus episode. And well over total X impressions, over twelve thousand when you add up a a couple of different posts. But, you know, certainly thank you to anybody that's listening from Wrexham, that that enjoyed that that podcast and listening to that story, and thought maybe they'd check us out for a little bit of St. Louis City action. and, you know, other otherwise if you haven't listened to that episode, and maybe you just saw the X post or whatever the case may be, go check it out. Go check out the the Rexham episode, read my updated blog post. I have two blog posts now for Wrexham. So kind of the the story initially and then the story about Rexham, you know, sending over all of their all of their gear to me. So thank you. I'm s I'm sporting this the scarf. I think last week I sported the the jersey that they sent. So big, big props to Rexham. Thank you to everybody from Rexham AFC that reads. Tweeted or liked the post or anything like that. my heart's with with everybody back in Wrexham. And like I said in last week's episode, they are forever my number two team moving forward right behind St. Louis City SC

Kev: I like it. It was it was a good story, so go check it out.

Bright: Yeah, it is. It's it's a good story, feel good story and you know, I I I'm just glad that That some people listened to it and and checked it out. It's certainly not I didn't think it was gonna happen. It's not the reason why this happened. It's not necessarily the reason why I talked about it, but cool that maybe it brought more people to to this pod. And then also our sister podcast, NFN Peapod. for anybody that wants to check that out. You can always go to NFNP Pod.com for both that podcast and City S C Posse. and of course we're also on Spotify and Amazon and Apple and iHeartRadio and all the things. So NFN Peapod is the the search that you need. But we're here to talk city and we've got a big episode. There there's a lot of stuff. So quick agenda on the episode, and we got about thirty minutes or so to do it. I don't like these episodes to go too long. Maybe we stretch to forty-five tonight. We'll see. But we have to do have to do the Kansas City recap. so we'll talk a little bit about that match. we'll preview the match on Wednesday night for against the LA Galaxy in LA, what that means for the standings and you know moving. Moving forward for the rest of the season. And there were some signings today, or at least rumors of signings and or both, right? So, we gotta we gotta talk about that too. So a lot going on. but let let's start with Kansas City. I I'll have to say, one, I was not at this game. You had the tickets, and you took Pop, you took Dad, which was which was great. his first game of the season. So I I think you guys had fun. But not only did I not go, this is I'm pretty sure the first game of the season I didn't even really get the opportunity to watch. I was at our national sales conference, I was out of the country, I was kind of following along best I could, and and certainly as soon as I got back to the room, which is way after the game ended, after, you know, dinners and parking.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah.

Bright: parties and all that stuff, I watched the highlights and that was really the the best that that I could do. So you're gonna have to give me the you know, I got the stats and we'll talk stats, but you let me know what the vibe was like, the atmosphere, you know, being back at City Park after a long hiatus against the rivals, all of that. You're on the mic. Go.

Kev: Right, let's do it. Let's see what I can remember. it was a Wednesday. Wednesday night game which felt or no, I'm sorry, Thursday night game, which yeah, Thursday night game, which felt a little odd going down on a Thursday, right? You're so used to it if it's a a midweek game, it's a Wednesday, so a Thursday was a little bit of an oddball, but you know it felt great to be back down there.

Bright: Thursday night, you're already off to a yeah, Thursday.

Kev: energy was was as you can imagine coming off of the break and coming off of the World Cup hype. it was, you know, electric. I thought it was kinda cool. We didn't see as much Kansas City blue, probably as you might be used to, with it being kind of midweek. which felt great, you know, as a as a city fan to see the the you know, see of red. so probably true.

Bright: We travel better than they do anyway. We all know it.

Kev: Probably true. so yeah, the the atmosphere was awesome and I'm trying to think, I took Pop to the the old market, you know, the scan and go kind of market. I don't know if he's ever been to one where you just scan in and you know walk through and take what you want and they charge you. He's like, How does this work? Which was kind of fun too. you know, he's getting up there, so could just be the old age.

Bright: Yep, yep. I I mean I've definitely taken him before, so he might not remember, but

Kev: so yeah, the the atmosphere was great. love love to be back. Love to be back.

Bright: All right, now what did you think about the starting eleven when that came out or when they announced it at the the stadium at Energizer Park? What did you think about the the starting eleven? Any surprises?

Kev: So no surprises to me because I kinda heard the the rumors of Berkey not not being in the lineup, but I had to imagine to everybody else it was just a what the heck, you know, kinda moment. Hadn't heard much around, you know, his injury from from the cup game. it's been, you know, two months basically stretch since then and he looked like he was relatively okay as he was celebrating during that cup game end.

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: So it's just a big question mark of why the heck isn't he in that lineup? you know, he not even on the bench, not in the lineup. Yep.

Bright: R not even on the bench, right? So n not in the lineup at all. not not on the roster. it was a certainly a big surprise to me, you know, again, just following along on X or whatever, Facebook, you know, being out of the country. And I'm like, What the heck is this? You know, and then when you read why, you know, fitness Y first off, he's the goalie. I mean, I understand. I'm not saying you don't have to have fitness, but it's not the same. You're not you're not Edelman or Durkin out there, you know, in the center mid running all over the field. Hartle, you know. Certainly his fitness should be on par enough to start. A as far as his injury goes, we talked a little bit about this.

Kev: What do you mean? Yeah.

Bright: you know, la in last week's episode we assumed he was he was healthy and ready to go and and DeMay didn't necessarily bring up his injury at all. He just says he s he wasn't a hundred percent fit. And there's no commitment from DeMay that he's gonna be in tomorrow night's lineup, Wednesday night's lineup or Saturday's line up. So y you know, the rumors are out there that maybe something else is in the works or you know, something else is going on.

Kev: Trade kind of rumors, yeah.

Bright: So a little certainly a little concerning and you know, Lunt didn't did not necessarily have a great game. He only faced three shots on goal and two of went in. now, granted, Kansas City's first goal was a rocket, upper ninety, looked great. I mean, from even from a from your standpoint, I'm assuming you were like, Whoa, okay. Didn't you know

Kev: it was it honestly it was an awesome shot from from where we were 'cause we're sitting basically on the box at that point, looking at it. Yeah, it was it was a pretty solid shot and even more impressive when I gotta see it on the replays.

Bright: Yeah. Sure. But then the second goal was just flat out terrible and a hundred percent on LUN. A hundred percent. Like what are you doing there?

Kev: I mean that's on what yeah. Yeah. I I rewatched it rewatched it today and the way that that ball, you know, it's already coming a little bit slower. Then he decides to settle it to take like look at his option. What do you mean? You freaking you kick that ball out, you go straight to the you know, who was that over there on the right side? what's his name? McDonald, thank you.

Bright: What McNaughton, I don't know who was in at the time. Yeah.

Kev: McNaught it was McNaughton with his his bleached hair or whatever he's got going on right now. Sarah's like, what are you doing there? yeah, you know, you make that direct pass as soon as you can, one touch it out there. it sh he could have kicked that thing for a corner. I don't care. Just don't do whatever you did. You know, don't send it back up the middle. Where you're yeah.

Bright: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, a p a pass like that right up the middle. No. And you learn that in in Little League or whatever you want to call it, right? Youth soccer.

Kev: Yeah. No, it was it was just it was terrible. We I do not want him touching the ball.

Bright: And I get the whole no, and I I I don't love it ever. I mean, I get the idea of playing it out of the back and and goalkeepers over the years certainly have improved their footwork and their passing skills and the like, but it's still dangerous soccer and I know dad hates it. Hates it. So to have him be at the game and then like he w I'm sure he gave you like I told you so. I called it.

Kev: I think because it was on the far end of the field, we were just kind of staring around like what you know, what the hell just happened? 'Cause it was tough to tell. Like why would you expect that play, right? So I'm trying to like struggle. I'm trying to see the TV going on in whatever you know, Bud Light zones up on our end to figure out what the heck happened, but you know, it was too far away to actually tell what had happened. So I didn't realize, you know, how they really scored until

Bright: Yeah. All of a sudden the ball's in the net, yeah. Okay. All right. Well we talked about the Kansas City goals, all right, but I mean what about the Saint Louis goals? So overall I think pretty solid, all three goals, right?

Kev: So I

Bright: Sangbin, we've been saying it for several episodes now, you know, that he continues to produce. You gotta have him in the lineup and you know, he he might be a little streaky throughout the game, but in some of the big moments he he buries it. he scored a lot of goals recently here and this was kind of a cool one. I mean, he was in an awkward position and he throws himself back to the ground and I I wouldn't call it like a true bicycle kick, but you know, you know, more

Kev: Loving them. Yeah. It was by school kick ask, right? The way that he dropped down to be able to turn that ball around and and kick it behind him, I guess. No, it was solid. And he had a couple good opportunities before that too that really just missed. I'm liking, you know, say Ben out there on on the top wing. I think he's prefing it. you gotta keep playing him in the starting lineup.

Bright: Right. No, I think so. I and and again we've been saying that for a couple weeks, you know, that he's he's gotta he's gotta play, you know. now I will okay, Wallum, again I didn't watch this game, but he has the lowest rating on the team at four point nine. Not great.

Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bright: And we n anybody that listens to this pod knows how much we despise when Wallem's in the starting eleven. If he comes in later in the game, I might be a little bit more okay with it. But when he's playing 90 minutes or whatever, I'm just like, we're in trouble. Now he he came out at halftime, right, at this game. But I will say he wa he was the one that went and challenged that ball on the first goal against the goalkeeper. The Totland, you know, threw the ball in. Wallem gets into there, you know, gets into the

Kev: He did. Mm-hmm.

Bright: mixer you know, shoots out to Sangbin and he buries it. So y you I'll give Wallem credit for that, but just looking at the overall stats and and his overall rating, it looks like he had another bad game.

Kev: Yeah, you know, I don't remember too much specifically from from him in terms of really bad play. he was yeah, I I just don't remember really much from him in that first half, which I usually consider a good thing, 'cause the most memorable plays that he has for us generally are just either terrible crosses floating it up to nobody or you know, giveaways.

Bright: Just not good play.

Kev: So I was happy that I couldn't remember much from his play. I will say that he was a part of that first goal. He was up there challenging it with the goalkeeper. And if they had looked at that thing and called a foul on him, I think I would have I would have lost it. Would have lost it on it.

Bright: Yeah, no, I agree. And you know, and then Hartle. You know, Hartle has another great game. he has the highest rating on the team, seven point five, gets the second goal. spot on. I mean he's our he's our D P and he's acting like it.

Kev: Yep. I put two bets on this game going into it. I played a first goal, Sangbin. So I hit that one. And then I played a hurdle anytime goal, hit that one. which was pretty solid, I thought. I I wasn't betting anything. Lori I think I put like two bucks down on the first goal, right? But you don't hit those very often, and it was like

Bright: So how much how much did you win? Okay.

Kev: plus I don't know eight hundred or something on Sangbin. So, you know, somewhere at that fifteen kind of dollar range. I think it was little over a double up on the Hardle goal. but I hit those before, you know, second half. So then I'm sitting there and I'm like, shoot, you know, I I don't have any any bets going on. I gotta place a another bet for second half. So I'm talking to Dad about it and I decide, okay, screw it. We're going a Butcher anytime goal scorer. And he says, Don't make that after I had, of course, don't make that bet. He's gonna end up with the ball, has a chance, take a penalty, go down, penalty kick, and Luva's gonna come in and bury it. I'm like, I mean, probably, but we'll we'll see. So that's going in a second half. Freaking close, man. Like pretty much spot on for that third goal. Like Butcher having that chance.

Bright: Pretty close. So the

Kev: Get me I'll I'll let you take it on to describe what happened there, but

Bright: Well I just gonna say the yeah, the th the third goal comes in the eighty sixth minute. So pretty late in the game. I mean I'm I'm assuming at this point you're thinking like, you know, a draw against the worst team of the league. No, you weren't thinking that?

Kev: Mm-hmm. Felt good. No, I thought we were gonna win it the whole time. Honestly. I I thought yeah, our chances were pretty solid. We had, you know, good mo movement with the ball. I felt pretty good about getting a win after they tied it up. Now maybe a little pressure as we got into the eighty sixth, eighty-fifth minute, but I thought we were gonna win it the whole time.

Bright: We were really putting the pressure on, I take it then, huh? Nice. Well, I will say Lubin comes in and and I think he's overall pretty good on the PKs, buries this one, solid, veteran, calm, cool, collected, all the all the things.

Kev: All the adjectives that you would describe for you know, the leader taking the the PK, so he he crushed it.

Bright: Alright, well the to wrap up the you know the the game, just a couple of couple of quick stats here. we had twenty-one shots to their ten, seven on target to their three, we had fifty-six percent of the possession, we had way more passes, we had a better pass accuracy, fifteen fouls to their ten, two yellow cards to their one, five corners to their six. you know, so pretty pretty much I mean, you look at the stats, you would think that we win this game, and we do win this game. And we said it in last week's episode this is a little bit of a trap game playing the quote unquote worst team in the league. We've been in a pretty good run of form and we have to play the worst team in the league coming out of the break, you know. you d you don't know what's gonna happen. Everybody's been off for seven weeks, you know, watching the World Cup. so I was a little nervous coming into this, but

Kev: Yeah. Yeah, you might find yourself without your goalkeeper.

Bright: Well, yeah, sure enough. And you know, Berkey I'm sure could have made a a bigger difference in this game, but you know, I'll I'll take the win. Yes, we gave up a two goal lead, but all that matters at this point in the season, where we are in the standings is is a big win. And that's what we got against the worst team of the league at home. So much needed. Now the big thing is is when you look at the standings, this put us up up into tenth place. So big we've had a big jump from just a couple of weeks ago or a couple of episodes ago where we were sitting at fourteenth. Now we're in tenth, and we're only one spot away, one point away from taking over the LA Galaxy and one win away from tying both Minnesota and the Dynamo. So I will say the galaxy have already played one more game than us, right?

Kev: Here we go.

Bright: now Houston has played one game less than us. So the way I see this, you know, if we go into Wednesday night's game in LA, and we manage to take all three points, you know, that puts us right around that eighth spot, give or take. and and we have the the best momentum in the entire league. The entire league, we have the best recent run of form.

Kev: Yeah. talked about we briefly gotta talk about that I think over the weekend right over the last five games I think we've got four wins and a draw taking the best yeah the best marks in the in the league over that time period so we've we've built ourselves some momentum we found something a little bit offensively and you know again it kind of falls back down to sync then coming into the lineup

Bright: Yeah, I think so.

Kev: I think is really what some of that pushed. so I gotta give him some credit. Louvin coming back and can't

Bright: Well and l and Louvin you know, Louvin coming back. You know, obviously he missed a lot of time early in the season, so you know, g getting getting him in there, that certainly makes a big difference. I I think getting Totland in the lineup a little bit more has has been good. you know, Toy Shirt, Cordova, they're officially gone. you know, so you don't have to worry about them anymore. We're not worried about let's let's get Cordova in the lineup and he you know, he didn't do anything. Let's let's be honest. And and even Toy Shirt, he did nothing this season. Nothing.

Kev: Yep. See what he can do and yeah. Yeah.

Bright: So, you get them gone and we'll talk about the new signings here in a minute, but the you know, the teams start to come together, they start to know the play styles. We we create chances. I don't think that's an issue. We we create the chances. We we just haven't had a goal score, and this has been true for a couple of years now. you know, Klaus went through his his drought, he had some injuries, things like that. we we just haven't been able to score goals. So I you know, I think we're moving in the right direction. Yeah. And the power rankings also think we're moving in the right direction. So we talked about our recent run run of form, which is number one in the league over the last five games. But right now St. Louis City sits at number eleven overall in the power rankings, which to me is is crazy. Because at at best you would put us like if you look at the table

Kev: Portal, obviously. Yep. Taking over that piece. Not yeah.

Bright: twentieth, give or take, somewhere between eighteen and twenty two, right? But but when you look at the power rankings, they got us at number eleven, so much higher than we're currently performing s so I think people are starting to see like, okay, the system's starting to work. Dame's starting to create a culture, hopefully. the identity's coming together. We're gonna we're gonna figure it out for the back half of the season. And like we've been talking about this whole podcast, we our front our our

Kev: Yeah, yeah.

Bright: Caesar was front loaded, right? Like w a lot we talked about it. A lot of away games, playing a lot of the best teams in the league.

Kev: Hell yeah. A lot of ways. A lot of tough. Yep. A lot of tough opponents. yeah, I remember I remember, you know, early just saying like, okay, like let's play for the cup games. You know, this season's pretty much tanked. We're done. It's no good. You know, and and here we are. Like all of a sudden we're sure, yeah. Don't stop. Don't let off the gas there, but it's good to be where we're at.

Bright: Yeah, yeah. So Right, right, right, absolutely. And and we're still doing good with the US Open Cup, so Yep. All right. Well I have to say

Kev: Good to be where we're at, at least in contention.

Bright: Yeah, I'm feeling much better. I'm feeling much better. And I am pumped for Wednesday night's game against the galaxy. Cause one, I missed last game, right? I didn't get to watch it. So this is really the first game that I'm gonna be able to sit down and watch in two months. for City. Of course I've I've watched the World Cup and all that, obviously. But a City game and it's a nine thirty central time start.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah. Which company?

Bright: Kids will be in bed. I'll have my beer. I'll be at the basement. I'm gonna be able to dedicate two full hours to doing nothing but watching soccer, taking notes. Maybe I'll write up a a blog, an instant reaction blog or something like that, which will be good. so I'll be doing live tweeting, all of that stuff. I'll be doing game time tomorrow night. So I will say I'm pumped about that.

Kev: Yeah, true. Yeah. Yeah. On it. Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be gonna be good. Gonna have a couple of beers.

Bright: Now, do you think we have a chance to win? So right now they're putting us at only a twenty-seven percent chance to win, a twenty-five percent chance to draw, and they have the galaxy at a forty eight percent chance to win. Yes, they're the home team, but they're coming off of a 3 0 loss to LAFC. They're only sitting one spot above us in the conference, and they have a game in hand. They're winless in their last three home matches. Their their current home record is two, three, and three. They have ten goals for and eleven goals conceded, and Klaus is out. And he's he has practically half of their goals.

Kev: goals. Yeah. let let me ask a question. are we gonna have Berkey back? 'Cause I I can't do it. I can't have Lunt back there touching that ball and think that we're gonna win.

Bright: Well, I would based on Damay's comments, I wouldn't bank on it. He didn't commit one way or another, but to me it sounded more more no than yes. So I d like I said, I don't know what's really going on there. There might be something else behind the scenes.

Kev: It's a scary thought. I I like what man, like him touching that ball. I'm petrified now, so in it away game. Yeah.

Bright: Yeah, yeah. Well something else to consider. Yeah, an away game I I know, and it's a two hour time difference, so it'll be a late night start for us. So there's there's all those things to consider, of course. I get all that. Hopefully everybody's pretty pretty much rested, right? but now we've got a midweek game, so it's been it's been six days since our last game, and then we have to play again on Saturday. Right? So we do know that Wallum is out.

Kev: Mm. Yeah. Good point.

Bright: Wallum is out for the Wednesday game. He's under concussion protocol. so I I assume maybe Santos is in or something like that in that spot. But overall against the galaxy on the road, we've done pretty good. You know, our first off, we're unbeaten in our six all-time meetings. We're two, and four. And between the two teams, there's been twenty-four goals and six mas matches, an average of four goals per match. And we're one and three in LA. Right? So one win, three draws. So if you're gonna make any bets, the the money money line might be the the draw, right? Take the draw and maybe the goals. Mm you know, maybe the overunder or something like that. Maybe do a little parlay.

Kev: Well Yeah. I might be looking more at any time goal scorers too. you know, obviously that played pretty well la last week, so why not write it again? But I could see probably putting some money on a draw and thinking that's gonna end up being the result of two two game, something like that.

Bright: Are you happy with the draw or do you think we have to win this game?

Kev: No, we don't have to win this game. We we've positioned ourselves at least in a spot that you know, if we can continue putting up points, prevent them from getting three, I think is probably the big thing here. So if we can just come away with the draw, we should be fine.

Bright: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I kind of agree. If we get the draw, we have a game in hand that keeps us in theory ahead of the galaxy on points per game and all of that. So a draw on the road will suffice. You know, I don't I don't love draws. I don't like rooting for draws, but I think right now the stage that we're in, I'll take a draw on the road. I don't wanna be I wanna wanna see a boring draw. I don't wanna see a zero zero draw and I don't wanna see a draw where we get outplayed, but

Kev: Mm-hmm. It can be if Like I s I think a I think we're gonna see a two two game. Two two games feels kinda right, I think.

Bright: Thank you. I I think so. Yep. Yep. And this all all

Kev: What's what's what's the total what's the total goals sitting at, do you know? Did you say that one?

Bright: No, I don't have that. You'll have to look you'll have to look that up. But I'm sure it's I'm sure it's like three goals. Two point five goals over under.

Kev: Yeah, I mean, I guess it usually is.

Bright: Right. So so the money would be the over based on the the history of play here between the two teams. While you look that up, this is almost, believe it or not, halfway point of the season. So, you know, we'll come back and we'll do a recap episode and preview The game on Saturday, which I'll be going to, and I trust me, I'm pumped for that. So that's versus Colorado. That is the halfway mark of the season. So it's crazy to think, you know, we still have a whole half half of the year to go. So there's plenty of time here. So again, that kind of goes back to my thought process of a draw in this situation is probably okay. Three goals.

Kev: They're gonna ex they're gonna expect three. I I'm looking I'm looking at the correct score and you know the I think they're expecting a two one victory for for LA, so yep.

Bright: Yeah. For Galaxy. Yeah, yeah. That that sounds about right based on the the betting lines, but that's where I I think a two two draw, over over on on that with a draw. Maybe do like I said, do a little parlay. I don't know that you predict the score. I'm sure that's an option. yeah. yeah.

Kev: yeah. yeah. You can we can do a correct score. I'm thinking maybe a two two parlayed with any time goal scorers of those two goals. you know, throwing down a nice two dollar bet to see what happens.

Bright: All right, let's do it. I I haven't made bets in a while, so maybe I'll I'll place a bet tomorrow night, Wednesday night, and then I'm definitely I'll definitely place bet for City to win against Colorado at home at s on Saturday, 'cause I'll be there. So we'll come back and talk about that. All right. big news today though.

Kev: Might be declared. You gotta do it. Yep. You're gonna be there.

Bright: Lots of we got well a couple of signings of rumor, you know, all of that. So I've got I've got the information on that. you know, it's not like I've ever really heard of these guys before. you know, but but I did a little bit of research. you know, overall the the community seems pretty high on these guys. I think they're good signings.

Kev: What happened? Sure.

Bright: You know, do you have any impressions before I get into some statistics and general thoughts? You know, what did you think when you're seeing the news on these two guys?

Kev: Who are the two guys that you're referring to? Let's start there.

Bright: Alright. We'll start with I don't know if I'm pronouncing the names right. I'm only reading them. But Matan Matan. So he he was our first, he's our official signing. and then the other one is the rumor, which is Holsey. If I'm pronouncing it right.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah. Yes, okay. Ho wholes? I don't know. I have no idea. I'll wait to hear his name to you know actually pronounce it right. Yeah, so he's the rumored one, right? And I think he, from what I've read, is kind of the goal scorer. He's supposed to be the the number nine, right? Like that's your big your big signing item. No?

Bright: We'll figure that out. Yeah. So he's the rumored one, right? Yeah. Wheeah. I that's the thing. No. Neither of these guys are a number nine. and that's what I think is a little concerning, right? So we'll start with Holse Holsey, how however you're gonna pronounce his name, right? So this was the big the bigger signing. So as of as of recording the only the bigger signing. Yes.

Kev: Mm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Who's the bigger side of I saw I I saw it the other way, but go ahead, continue.

Bright: No, Hol Holsey or Holse, he's the bigger signing. Six million dollars. so it'll be the biggest signing in city history. He'll be a designated player. so that's important that's important to note. he's Danish, so he does have a little bit of a of a resume with the Danish, the Denmark national team. he's an attacking midfielder, right winger.

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: Or central attacking mid, right? Those those are his positions. So you're probably thinking maybe him and Hartle as a center attacking mids. you know he is he's a left foot, but he plays right wing, so I think that's interesting. He's five ten and a hundred and fifty pounds. So not

Kev: Yep. Yep. Yep.

Bright: Certainly not a big guy by any means. Probably that's probably pretty average by football standards, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he w he played in the the Turkish Super League is where he was most recently.

Kev: Sure. After yeah, yeah. Football, yeah. Yeah. He Mm-hmm. He was was he the one that was on Columbus at one point in time? Is that the signing?

Bright: No, so that's Matan. Which we'll get Yeah. We'll get to him in a minute. Okay.

Kev: It's my time. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I have confused myself. I've confused myself. So yes, this is the big signing that I that I thought it was. Okay. yeah, so I

Bright: Yes. So and I think it is a good signing and it's a big signing. I'm not saying it's just not a number nine. It's not he's not a goal scorer, naturally. In in his time with the in the Turkish Super League, he played in thirty one games. He started twenty nine of so he's a reliable guy, which is good. But he has eight goals and actually I don't have his assists here, unless it's zero. Eight goals, one yellow card. So like, okay. You know, but

Kev: yellow card.

Bright: Yeah, eight goals, so what is that? A little bit more than a goal every Five games? A little less than that. Four games. How many games did you say? I said five, but it's four, so roughly one goal every nine. He has eight goals in thirty one games. Right, alright. So four four one goal every four games.

Kev: Mm. How many how many games did you say? How many games did he have? Forty nine? Thirty one years, okay, yeah, yeah.

Bright: You know, I don't know. It's not one goal every two games.

Kev: Yeah. well, it was a different league, it could be.

Bright: Sure. And and again, like okay, here we go. Four he had four assists. Here it is. And like I said though, he's he's a center attacking mid. He's not playing up top unless we're unless we're envisioning envisioning him in a different position. You know, Damay's come out and he's talked about how he likes that flexibility. So he likes the idea that he could play on the wing or play center, which I would agree. I think we're heavy in the in the center mid right now. and I think it scared some people.

Kev: Sorry.

Bright: Because people think that maybe Leuven's on the way out or, you know, something like that. We got Edelman, Durkin, Leuven, Hartle, Holsey, and now Matan. So we got six proven guy and then Ostruck, you know, who I know is n

Kev: Mm-hmm. Wait. I was gonna The nice thing it's just you're adding talent. And I think this is from what I can tell, good, you know, good talent, right? So even if it's not getting that dynamic number nine, that big splash that you're you're seeing, you know, a goal every two games or whatever, you're still improving the team, right? Going in the right right direction. And this is what we wanted. We wanted to see some moves. We hadn't

Bright: Yes. Yeah. Definitely definitely an attacking

Kev: With last episode we didn't make any moves. We were just sitting on our hands. We were wondering where they're at. We finally got some in, and I think this is a good direction.

Bright: Yeah, a hundred percent. And he's definitely a an upgrade, I think, you know, on the attack, right? So I think it gives us some some opportunities. It's good engine, a lot of minutes played. you know, he's productive. I'll I'll say productive, maybe you're not a number nine. but he's also in his prime age. He's only t he's twenty-seven, right? So this should be the prime of his career when he's locked up with City, which is cool. Now what about his his EA FIFA ranking, right? Video game ranking. they got him at a overall seventy-three. Overall seventy-three.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna my guess was gonna be a sixty five, so hey, not bad.

Bright: Seventy three. And you know, the other thing is is he's left footed, so that creates a little bit of extra you know, I don't know what the word is there. Some some different different looks, creativity. definitely a guy that's gonna be playing in the final third. So I I think that's important. Now what about what about you don't know until you'd see it, but

Kev: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah, you don't know until you see it, but excite excited at you know, see side. And like you said, the the largest contract we've had. Yep. So no, exciting to see us spend some money. Yep.

Bright: Yeah. And how we how he gels with the team and all of that. Yep. He'll yeah, he'll have to live up to it. Live up to it for sure. All right. Matan. Now he's twenty-six. So again, good age. You're locking him up for what should be the prime of his career. He's Romanian.

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: he's also an attacking midfielder or a winger. So he's he's versatile with his attacking position. So he could play on the wing, could play in the middle. he played on the Greek Super League most recently. so he's signed through twenty twenty eight, twenty n twenty nine with a club option through twenty thirty. he does take an international roster slot. and then we had to give a hundred thousand dollars in general allocation money to to Columbus for the first right of refusal. I think we had stockpiled lots of of general allocation funds. so I think we're good there. Now, here's the big thing for this guy. So he has a hundred and one MLS appearances, so he's got cred.

Kev: Me so, yep.

Bright: Right? He's he's got that MLS card right from the start. sixty starts, only six goals in those sixty starts. So he's only averaging one goal every ten games. he does have fifteen assists. and his career best was eleven assists with Columbus in twenty twenty three when they won the league. So he also has a lot of he has a lot of trophies. He's got the MLS Cup, the Leagues Cup.

Kev: Yep. I heat.

Bright: and Romanian league title, Romanian super cup. so so he's a winner. So I I think there's something to be says.

Kev: I'm gonna say somebody that knows how to win, you want that you want that on your team, right? Like clearly he's bringing in the trophy, so let's just say he's the reason for he's got some experience with the May, if I'm not mistaken. so he knows he knows the player is gonna be able to come in, add to the culture that the May's looking to to bring into the team. So I think this is again a a pretty solid sighting. one

Bright: Sure, sure. Yeah. And Yes, that's what I was just gonna say. He's a he's a Damay guy. Agreed.

Kev: Again, that you would expect to completely move the needle, but improvement on the team bringing more talent in.

Bright: Yeah, definitely improvement. gives us some, you know, some versatility on the bench. You know, if if he's playing, whether it's on the wing or or center mid, maybe Leuven drops back to a defensive mid. Now you got Edelman or Durkin, one of them. They don't have to play every game. you know, Wallum potentially, he is out of the lineup.

Kev: Yeah, sure.

Bright: You know, that's what I'm looking for. And and Matan or Holsey goes in on the wing. you know, s somet something like that, you know. Even Hardle has played on the wing before. Yeah.

Kev: Yeah, who works. Yep. That was my thought. That was my immediate thought when I saw him sign. Yeah, my immediate thought was, Okay, we're doing something here for for Wallum, I would think, to get him to the bench, but

Bright: Yeah, so definitely agreed. And and he I think is a lot better coming out of the bench with ten minutes, fifteen minutes left in the game. so yeah, two good signings, but still missing that that number nine and where it stands currently, all of our D P spots are up. So unless there's some kind of crazy Berkey trade or something like that.

Kev: You

Bright: You know, we we don't necessarily have to have a D P number nine. We could go get somebody with with TAM money. you we I think we have the funds. You know, do these signings mean that we're going after a number nine, we're bringing in the creative guys and we're gonna get the goal scorer? Or are we saying, Hey, we're gonna get better and more creative and we're gonna rely on better up front or a a quote unquote team effort?

Kev: Yeah, we got Mm-hmm.

Bright: You know, we have a lot of people that can score Hartle, Leuven, Halsey, Betcher

Kev: Wells coming in from a lot of places, just not that yeah that big name up top.

Bright: Sang Sangbin. Right. So either it's gonna be a by committee type of thing, or this is just the hey, we're just getting started, we're gonna go out and get, you know, a a true number nine. And I know we tried. There there were some other rumors out there that that we were in on some guys that just didn't pan out. Fine.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: You know, that's that's the way of the world. That's that's the football world. But I I still would love to see a big a big time signing and then Betcher is the guy that comes in off the bench when you need somebody, you need a pain in the butt, you need a somebody to take a dive in the penalty box. Betcher's your your dude.

Kev: That is that is right up his alley. That is his game. Is how do we delay we're winning, like fall down on the ball. yeah, you know, I'm not gonna expect it. I don't think we're gonna get it. I think these are gonna be your moves that you end up seeing as you look back towards the end of the season. But at least we got some action. We made some moves, we've spent some money, something that I know a lot of the fans have been mad about, you know, sitting sitting down on a

Bright: Yeah. Yeah.

Kev: all these funds not doing anything as the team was losing was killing us and then bringing in Cordova for three months. That was that was brutal. So I'm excited about these moves.

Bright: Yeah. I'm excited about seeing this. Yep, me too. I'm I'm hopefully excited to see some goals. I I would agree, you know, fans have been clamoring for this. We've You know, we've had a tough couple of seasons. Hopefully we're you know, we're we're changing things up a little bit now as we go into the the second half of this season. There's still a long way to go, a lot of football to be played. and you know, I these guys aren't gonna get inserted a lot of the for sure. For sure. And I'm out of money. You know, that's that's the thing. Like so Caroline and I are going to the game. She just got back from Vegas. we both just got back from England. I was like, I don't even have money to

Kev: Lot of beers to buy. Yeah.

Bright: Go to the football game right now. You know, we already talked about it, lost seven hundred dollars worth of souvenirs. so just money that we're throwing away. Now thank you again, big shout out again to to Rexum, you know, making and you know, and I said this, they they didn't owe us anything. They didn't, you know, they didn't steal the car,

Kev: yeah, yeah. Had some of it back, sure.

Bright: We weren't even in Wrexham when it happened. We were in Birmingham. You know, they didn't have to do anything. and I know I know St. Louis City is all about community and and all of that too. And I and I do think they do a really good job. But I again I gotta give that one last shout out to Wrexham. and, you know, we got some comments on And whatnot that hey, you know, they're a they're a real club. What you see on the show is legit. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhaney are legit. Sometimes you just think like, they're doing this for TV. Well, you know, when you when you can say f yeah, when you can say firsthand that they didn't have to do this, and they did because they

Kev: Easy to add it, you know, but yeah.

Bright: They care, they're kind, they were empathetic to the situation, they appreciate the support. you know, and like I said, I was I was all in on Wrexham, you know, early, as you know. as soon as as soon as the news broke back during the pandemic that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhaney came in and they started the TV show. I was like, all right, this is an interesting story. And then they start investing money.

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: Getting better players, setting up a system, you know, an academy, bringing in the right coach, you know, i it's just th they didn't they didn't try and cheapskate it. They weren't in it for the business of football, they were in it to win.

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: And you can see it, I really do think you can see it in Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhaney, when you watch the show. Like they want to win, they hate losing. they're good business guys, obviously too, but you know, they they support their team, they support their fans, they support their American fans, all of that. So another big shout out to them. my number two team moving forward.

Kev: That's a five. Love it.

Bright: Alright. Well, we'll be back. I'll get this episode posted. I think we gotta get another recording in. new NFNP pod will drop on Friday. new C D S C posse, maybe Friday or Saturday, certainly before game time. We'll gotta have to get another episode in. So we'll see how this game goes Wednesday night. Hoping for a big win against the galaxy, put us up in you know, a better position, and then I'm pumped. Pumped to go to the game on Saturday. Night. So I hope to see everybody there. Maybe I'll wear my Rexham scarf. Look look for me. I think I will. I think I will. Alright. Well, thanks. Thanks, Kev. Thanks, everybody. Like I said, if you're new here, go go check out our other episodes and nfnpepod.com or do a little search, NFN Pepod on

Kev: Go ahead. We'll do. I know where you sit, so I can find ya. All right.

Bright: Y whatever wherever you get your podcast. Thanks again. We appreciate the support. Have a great night.

Kev: No, sis.